Consumer Groups Oppose Bank's TCPA Petition
Granting Citizens Bank’s petition for the FCC to clarify or issue a declaratory ruling on robocalls would “conflict with both the plain language” of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and previous commission rulings, said the National Association of Consumer Advocates…
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and National Consumer Law Center in comments posted Monday in docket 02-278. Citizens Bank’s Jan. 16 petition asked the commission to clarify that a called party that advertises its cellphone number provides express consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded nontelemarketing informational calls to the number, said a Feb. 12 Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice. Comments were due Monday, replies are due March 31. The “sweeping” petition would “unnecessarily expose consumers to nuisance robocalls whenever they release their telephone number for a limited purpose in an entirely different context,” the groups said. Granting the petition would mean “an out-of-work mother who posts a resume containing her cellular telephone number online … has consented to receiving ‘informational’ robocalls on her cellphone from FOX about American Idol,” the groups said. The petition also would mean the woman consented to receiving debt collection calls on her cellphone, NACA and NCLA said. Citizens Bank said in its March 13 comments it's facing a TCPA class-action lawsuit from a defaulted debtor who was called on a cellphone number she had advertised for her business.